Factors Affecting Farmers’ Attitude towards Climate Resilient Agricultural Technologies in Telangana, India

Abstract

Agriculture and climate change are interdependent processes on a global scale. To address the climatic risks in agriculture, adopting climate-resilient practices from the National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) Project instead of traditional cropping methods is a strategy that not only enhances agricultural sustainability but also boosts farmers' income. Farmers' attitude is vital in the adoption of new technology. This paper examines the factors influencing farmers' attitude towards climate-resilient technologies under the NICRA project in the Suryapet and Khammam districts of Telangana, India. An ex-post facto research design was employed, with a sample of 200 respondents selected through a multistage simple random sampling technique. The profile characteristics viz., education, annual income, landholding, economic motivation, and innovative proneness, demonstrated a positive and significant correlation with farmers' attitude, as indicated by the correlation coefficient. Additionally, occupation and the farming system showed a significant positive association with attitude through the chi-square test. Stepwise multiple regression analysis identified factors such as water resource availability, economic motivation, risk-taking ability, education, individual and mass media exposure, and landholding as having a significant effect on farmers' attitude. To enhance the adoption of climate-resilient technologies under the NICRA project, efforts should focus on improving farmers' education, economic motivation, and access to water resources. Additionally, leveraging individual and mass media exposure can further strengthen positive attitude towards these technologies, ultimately leading to greater agricultural sustainability and increased income for farmers.